Florida death tied to meningitis outbreak

A technician packages cerebrospinal fluid from a confirmed meningitis case in Minnesota, to send to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing, at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minn. [CREDIT: Hannah Foslien, via AP]

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OCALA — The state Department of Health and an Ocala pain clinic differ on the state's decision to link a patient's death to a multi-state fungal meningitis outbreak.

The Gainesville Sun reports the 70-year-old Marion County patient died in July about two weeks after receiving an injection at the Florida Pain Clinic.

Clinic officials doubt the patient contracted that rare form of meningitis, which has been linked to tainted vials of a steroid administered to relieve back pain.

The Department of Health said that it is confident in linking the death to the contaminated steroid and added that it follows Centers for Disease Control criteria.

The CDC found a strong link between the injections and sudden strokes.

There have been seven cases of meningitis in Florida so far, including two deaths.

Last modified: October 12, 2012
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